Peace and Laughter

Pastor Juvenal Cervantes
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
October 31, 2021

John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Following Easter, congregations throughout Christendom celebrate Holy Humor Sunday, but we’ve decided to have fun even on Halloween Sunday.

Anytime is a is a good time for humor. To restate Shakespeare, “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to control the impulse and maintain decorum, or to give in and enjoy this day, is totally up to you!”

There was a lady who on the Saturday afternoon before Easter was doing some baking for her Easter dinner the next day. There was a knock at the door. She went to find a man, dressed in shabby clothes, and looking for some odd jobs. He asked her if there was anything he could do. She said, "Can you paint?"

"Yes," he said. "I’m a rather good painter."

"Well," she said, "there are two gallons of green paint there and a brush, and there’s a porch out back that needs to be painted. Please do a good job. I’ll pay you what the job is worth."

He said, "That’s great. I will be done quickly."

She went back to her baking and did not think much more about it until there was a knock at the door. She went, and it was obvious he had been painting for he had it on his clothes. She asked, "Did you finish the job?"

He said, "Yes."

She said, "Did you do a GOOD job?"

He said, "Yes. But lady, there’s one thing I would like to point out to you. That is not a Porsche back there. That is a Mercedes."

Consider this: a man and a woman who had been friends for many years died and went to heaven. They told St. Peter that they wanted to be married.

“Take your time and think about it,” said St. Peter, “you have eternity so take fifty years and see me then.”

Fifty years later, the couple returned and again told St. Peter they wanted to be married. “Well,” said St. Peter, “take another fifty years and really think about it….”

But the couple was insistent, “We know we want to be married now….”

St. Peter replied, “Well, take another fifty years and if we don’t have a preacher up here by then, I’ll marry you myself.”

Churches do well to capitalize on the Sunday after Easter to celebrate Holy Humor Sunday. There is a sense of joy that permeates the human heart relative to the good news of Jesus resurrection. We learn that our preaching is not in vain, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, that all is well.

Holy Humor Sunday continues in the celebration. It celebrates the fact that the resurrection of Jesus is God’s ultimate joke on evil and death. It is a testament to the God who, as the Psalmist says in the second chapter, fourth verse, "sits in the heavens and laughs" at the foolishness of humanity and any forces that might seek to thwart divine purposes.

God is victorious over death, hell and the grave. Consider the Easter story:

The disciples, at least most of them, are in a locked room...plastic film, duct tape, dead-bolts, locks, whatever it took...scared to death that the same fate that took their Master on Calvary might be awaiting them as well.

Yes, they had heard the story of the women about the empty tomb, but at this point, that is all they knew...a story. Suddenly, here is Jesus. Through the plastic and duct tape, saying, "Shalom." Our scripture translates that as "Peace be with you," and that is legitimate, but it can just as legitimately be rendered, "Hi guys," or even some first century version of "Wha’ssup?"

More strictly translated, Jesus’ “peace be with you” meant much more than our idea of peace. When the risen Christ said those words it was more than just a greeting, more than just an announcement, literally translated, “peace be with you” is a pronouncement of well being, of wholeness, of completeness.

My friends here’s the main idea of today’s messege: we can rejoice, indeed laugh, because through Jesus, we are at peace with our past, we are at peace with our present, and we are a peace with our future.

I. We can rejoice because we are at peace with our past.

There are so many who spend so much time looking through their rearview mirror that they not only miss the view that’s ahead of them, but they eventually crash in the process. Jesus simply told the disciples and us that forgiveness is attainable.

Maybe Jesus was remembering that story that’s not told in our Scriptures…

It was following the resurrection, when John found Peter and ran up to him. Excitedly, he said, “Peter, I have some good news and some bad news.”

Peter took hold of John and calmed him down, “Take it easy, John. What’s the good news?”

John said, “The good news is that Christ is risen.”

Peter said, “That’s great, but what’s the bad news.”

John looking around cautiously said, “He’s really steamed about Friday!”

NO THIS ISN’T ACTUALLY THE CASE!!!

Jesus’ “peace be with you” gave the disciples and us, peace with our past.

II. We can rejoice because we are at peace with our present.

Let me ask you a simple question, “Where do you need peace in your life right now?” All of us, I’m sure, can attest to the fact that life seems unmanageable at times. We live in a broken world. People’s lives are daily being torn apart and challenged. And often, when there’s no faith to bring the person through whatever trial they’re facing, everything seems to fall apart.

But for those of us who know why Jesus died, principally to fix broken people and broken situations, we know that Jesus wants to bring peace in our greatest storms. The gospel song says it all when we sing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand!”

As Christians, we know our net-worth is much less important than our eternal worth! Struggles we experience today build the foundation for a greater faith in Jesus Christ tomorrow! We walk by our faith, not by our sight, because we know that there is only one person qualified under heaven and earth to sufficiently deal with the present realities that we face, and it is not us!

It is Jesus Christ who can take the “brokenness and strife and still make something beautiful of our lives.”

III. We can rejoice because we are at peace with our future.

I can relate to Thomas. Can you? In fact, I think that the whole “doubting” label is harsh when we look at Thomas’ full history.

We first encounter Thomas in the 11th chapter of John. Jesus has just been informed of the death of Lazarus. While the other disciples were groaning about the dangers of taking the trip nearer to Jerusalem, it was Thomas who said to the rest, “Let us also go…that we may die with him.” (John 11:16).

Next, we catch up to him in the 14th chapter of John. The disciples had gathered to celebrate the Passover with Jesus, and he was trying to tell them what was going to happen in his death, resurrection, and ultimate ascension.

Do you remember the scene? Jesus had just finished saying that he was going to prepare a place for them all in his Father’s heavenly house, and that, one day, they would join him there. Jesus said, “And you know the way to the place I am going?”

And the rest of the disciples sat there like typical men, having no clue of the directions, but not wanting to sound unintelligent by asking the question, figured that they would wander and get there eventually.

But it was Thomas, not that doubter, but the realistic thoughtful disciple that said, “Wait a minute, I need some directions!” “Lord, we do not know where you are going so how can we know the way?”

Jesus’ response we know well, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, Thomas, no one comes to the Father but by me.”

And now we meet Thomas for the third time. While the other disciples are trying to convince Thomas that Jesus was alive, and that he did appear to them and that all that they had seen with the daughter of Jarius, and the son of the widow-Nain, and with Lazarus, how now come true for Jesus. It was just too much.

Thomas couldn’t believe it. He was devastated by what had happened in the past and would not admit to it. He had been there when Jesus was murdered upon that cross and his present faith, his present hope, his present direction had been shattered.

We label Thomas “doubting” but I tell you the truth, I would have been making the same demand he did, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

No doubt there are folks in church pews around this community this morning who are in the exact same boat as Thomas. Life has dealt some crushing blows. In many ways, we may call ourselves Easter people, but we still feel like we’re living in a Good Friday world.

Perhaps, like Thomas, we did not give ourselves the chance to get it. We were...elsewhere.

But now, we ARE all here. Thomas too.

The friendly New Testament church where all are welcome. Right? The doors are locked again. Still on Orange Alert, just in case. Suddenly, Jesus. "Put your finger here, [Thomas]; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

But Thomas’ experience didn’t end there….When Jesus showed up on the scene, and proclaimed, “Peace be with you,” it was that encounter with the risen Lord that empowered Thomas and the rest to publicly and powerfully proclaim the good news, the news, that over time would turn the world upside down.

With eyes that were no doubt as big as saucers, Thomas doesn’t even bother to check before he responds, "My Lord and my God!"

Now Thomas is in on the joke too. As the writer in Ecclesiastes has it, there is a "time to weep and a time to laugh." And we know what THIS is the time for.

You may have heard this. An Episcopal Bishop went to an unfamiliar church to celebrate the Eucharist. There was a microphone on the altar and as he was uncertain whether it was switched on or not, so he tapped it gently with no result. Then leaning very close to it, he said, in a loud whisper which echoed through the whole church, "There is something wrong with this microphone."

The well-trained and responsive congregation, very familiar with the very latest in liturgical language, replied at once, "And also with you."

When Jesus said, “peace be with you.” He was giving Thomas, the disciples, and even us, the hope we so desperately need in our continuing journey with this living Christ.

Hope that because He lives, we too will live. Hope in the future that people, events, or circumstances cannot change. Hope that says we don’t have to live in our past, struggle in our present, or fear our future.

It’s a Holy Hope that says during Easter and today, when Jesus told us “peace be with you,” it will make a difference. Life will not be the same. Like Thomas, may it mark our lives with a purpose, with meaning, and a new direction.

It was a couple of weeks after the Resurrection when someone approached Joseph of Arimathea articulating their surprise at him allowing Jesus to be buried in Joseph’s newly hand-hewn stone tomb. Joseph simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “He only needed it for the weekend!” Hallelujah, our God reigns and all is good.